"Your ability to vanish like a ghost is impressive, but do you believe it would work against someone like me, a master of wind?." Tyria said, regaining her calm while still hovering high in the air.
"Let's find out," Alex said instantly, using the phantom walk skill, appearing before Tyria swinging his saber.
The phantom walk skill could boost Alex's agility by a maximum of close to triple his original for a few moments at the beginner mastery, which he could use to take advantage of his momentary invisibility.
Alex was still unable to push his body to achieve triple his original speed, and the best he could do was push it to a little over double, but even that was challenging to control and took a great toll on his body both physically and mentally.
After training the last few days, Alex could control his increased speed, move in any direction, and appear at any place within the two-hundred-meter range.
"BOOOMM"
The blade smashed against a barrier of wind around Tyria, making the wind twist, and like a ball, it zoomed back at a lighting pace, crashing to the ground with a solid impact.
"I heard that the new gladiator star dominating the arena for the last two weeks had abnormal strength for his Rank."
"I thought they were exaggerating it to attract more people to watch the battles, but clearly, I was wrong," Tyria said as she dusted off her clothes.
"Your speed and strength are impressive, but they would not change the outcome of our battle," Tyria said as four identical-looking white daggers tied to her waist started to levitate around her.
"As a Show of respect for you, I will show you my true strength," Tyria said, as two dark chains materialized from her hand, and instantly two dark daggers levitated from her back and got attached to the end of the chains.
"You look confident that you will win this battle just like your teammate," Alex said with a smile keeping his eyes on the six daggers with paper-thin blades floating in the air.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAlex limited his mana sense to just ten feet and emptied his mind of all unnecessary thoughts and emotions, focusing on his target as he slowly walked forward.
Tyria seeing the shift in Alex, instantly realized that he was not just a brute with abnormal capabilities but a honed warrior with a good head on his shoulders.
When Alex reached thirty feet from Tyria, four white flashes zoomed toward him, which he easily avoided by stepping to the side, and then he vanished from his location, leaving behind a twisted mirage.
Alex appeared a few feet behind Tyria, hovering a little above the ground, and with a quick spin to face her back, he swung his saber, sending four dark energy slashes, but the dark chains destroyed them before they could even get close to her.
The moment Alex's feet touched the ground, he vanished, and a moment later, four white flashes passed write through the mirage he left behind.
'I will burn through my mental energy and stamina if I stretch this fight for long,' Alex thought, appearing outside Tyria's attack range.
Alex sprinted toward Tyria, using the Mana step skill to boost his speed by twenty percent, and what welcomed him was four white daggers zooming through the air at incredible speed.
Alex easily avoided the continuous attacks from the daggers, but the dodging slowed his advance, giving Tyria the opportunity to start spamming skills on him to stop him in his tracks.
"Wind Slash Fury"
"Shadow Chains"
Tyria rapidly swung her arms, making the dark chain on her vanish from sight, sending slashes of sharp wind toward Alex, and the moment he stopped to avoid the slashes and daggers, shadowy chains zoomed toward his legs.
Alex used the phantom walk and vanished from his location, avoiding the attacks appearing behind Tyria, but before he could even take a step, his feet started sinking into a pool of shadows.
'It was a setup.' Alex thought, looking at the sky covered in hundreds of wind spears.
"Wind Spears Rain," Tyria said softly, pointing her hand at Alex, and instantly the hundreds of spears started shooting toward him at breakneck speed.
Alex avoided and defended against as many spears as possible while freeing his legs from the shadowy swamp with brute force.
The moment Alex regained solid footing, he instantly used the phantom walk skill to change his location, but even after the successful escape, he was extremely displeased.
'I truly underestimated her ability to manipulate her opponent.' Alex thought, feeling his feet sinking into a shadowy pool.
"Twin Hurricane Tornado."
Alex heard Tyria's voice, and instantly the giant magic circle under his feet shined with intense light, generating a vast amount of raging winds, and within moments, two tornados appeared on his left and right.
The two tornados quickly grew and turned into massive hurricanes of raging winds clashing against each other with Alex in their center, making him feel his body getting sliced by thousands of wind blades with each passing second.
'These tornados won't kill me, but I don't think I would survive the next attack.' Alex thought, keeping his calm even when his health was going down by thousands while his body was profusely bleeding from numerous cuts.
The two tornados were grinding against each other, creating sharp and devasting winds, which was the source of its destructive power, but it was also destroying the two tornados making the skill highly destructive but very short lasting.
Alex knew about the Twin Hurricane Tornado skill and knew that even though highly destructive, it was not a skill that could kill a Third Rank warrior.
So knowing such information, Alex was confident that Tyria was preparing something big to end this battle the moment the two tornados ended.
'Now I either use the Ruler pride or Rage skill to boost my strength, or I can execute the double phantom.'
'If I fail to execute the double phantom, then I am pretty much dead, but as Elder Darrien says, a warrior performs best in the heat of a battle and even better when his life is on the life.' Alex thought with a broad smile feeling the blood covering his face.
Alex didn't want to die and get logged out for seven days, but after training the phantom walks in the last four days, he felt it would be a miracle if he could reach the intermediate mystery in his battle art at the rate of his progress.
'I am not dying today.' Alex thought, feeling the wind pressure becoming less and less from the tornados.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAfter a few seconds, the raging tornados became calm enough for Alex to see through the wind, and looking ahead, he located Tyria far standing in the distance with a massive shadow lance levitating over her head.
The lance edge was coved in wind blades spinning like a drill, and seeing the exhausted look on Tyria, Alex instantly knew that the attack was ready and would be coming at any moment.
Alex brute forced his way out of the shadowy swamp and the weakened tornados and sprinted toward Tyria, covering his sword with saber intent.
"Arcane Devastation Lance," Tyria said, throwing the Lance toward Alex.
'It's do or die.' Alex thought, using the phantom walk skill vanishing from his location, appearing two hundred feet forward.
"ZZZZOOOOOMMMMMMMM" The dark lance impacted the ground tens of feet behind Alex and instantly exploded into a dome of raging dark wind.
The dome rapidly expanded, and in mere moments, it reached tens of times its original size, covering more than two hundred feet in every direction while also devouring Alex in its expansion.
"He had such a great skill, and if I could have it would boost my strength to a whole new level," Tyria said as he watched the giant dome of raging dark wind.
"It is not for sale."
Tyria heard a familiar voice shocking her to the core, and instantly her danger sense went crazy, warning her of life-threatening danger.
However, before she could even process what was happening, a dark blade ripped through her back, destroying her heart, tearing through her chest, and appearing in the front.
"Thanks for your great contribution," Alex said in her ear as he yanked his sword back, crushing her heart and destroying any hope of self-recovery.
"How did you escape the devastation dome? I saw you getting devoured by it in its expansion." Tyria said in a raspy voice as blood flowed from her mouth.
"I just used my movement skill once again the moment my feet touched the ground, and what you saw was just a mirage," Alex replied with a smile trying his best to stay standing.
Tyria stood in disbelief for a moment before smiling and falling on her back in a pool of her own blood.
Alex sat down, feeling extreme pain from his destroyed leg bones and ripped-apart muscles, but he still had a bright smile enjoying his accomplishment.